pearls, are the features by which every body knows at once the pictures of Queen Elizabeth." Elizabeth was determined to know every thing, and wished to appear skilful in matters which she had neither studied, nor could, without study, fairly comprehend. She directed artists, and laid down rules for their productions, not for the advantage of the nation, but for her own. On one occasion, when she sat for her portrait, she ordered it to be painted "with the light coming neither from the right, nor from the left, without shadows, in an open garden light:"-A mere conceit-and the conceit too of one unacquainted with the principles of the art she presumed to direct. Raleigh informs us that she ordered all pictures of herself, done by unskilful artists, to be collected and burned; and in 1563 she issued a proclamation forbidding all persons, save "especial cunning painters, to draw her likeness." She quarrelled at last with her looking-glass as well as with her painters; during the latter years of her life the maids of honour removed mirrors, as they would have removed poison, from the apartments about to be occupied by the virgin queen. Lucas de Heere, a native of Ghent, a poet, a painter, and a wit, came in this reign to England, where he executed several portraits. He was employed to paint the gallery of the earl of Lincoln, in which he represented the characters of several nations. When he came to the English, he painted a naked man, with a pair of shears and cloths of various colours lying beside him, as a satire on our fickleness in fashions. This thought is borrowed from Andrew Borde, who to the first chapter of his Induction to Knowledge, prefixed a naked Englishman, accompanied with these lines: "I am an Englishman, and naked I stand here, De Heere, proceeding inore warily with the queen than with the nation, depicted her majesty in a rich dress, with crown, sceptre, and globe, coming out of her palace with Juno, Pallas, and Venus, as her compics. Juno drops her sceptre, Venus scatters her roses, and Cupid flings away his arrows. The poverty of the invention is as remarkable as the intolerable grossness of the flattery. The great earl of Nottingham, whose defeat of the armada established the throne of his mistress, employed Cornelius Vroom, a native of Harlem, to draw the designs of his successive victories over the Spaniards, and the whole was wrought in tapestry by Francis Spiering. It is a noble and national work. It is divided into ten battles, and contains the portraits of twenty-seven naval commanders. These portraits have the air of real likenesses; indeed, as the tapestry was wrought while the original persons were living, the artist could not well indulge in imaginary features. The painter had for his drawing one hundred pieces of gold; the arras cost ten pounds one shilling per ell, a high price; and as it measures seven hundred and eight ells, the whole amounted to upwards of seven thousand pounds. This was a work worthy of the noble house of Howard. James the First repaid the money to the earl, and the crown became proprietor of the work; and the Puritan commonwealth placed it (where it still remains) in the House of Lordsthen used by the Commons as a committee-room. Towards the close of Elizabeth's reign, Hilliard and Oliver began to distinguish themselves, and they are probably the earliest natives of this island who have any claim to the name of artists. The former was the son of the queen's goldsmith, and was allowed to study from the heads of Holbein : the parentage of the latter is unknown, "nor is it of any importance," says Walpole, "for he was a genius, and they transmit more honour by blood than they can receive." Hilliard enjoyed the protection of the court, and became popular; Oliver obtained the patronage of the nation, and merited all which they bestowed. The chief merit, indeed, of Hilliard is, that he helped to form the taste and discipline the hand of Oliver. The works of the latter are all miniatures; in the estimation of judges they rival those of Holbein, and may be compared with those of Cooper, who, living in a freer age and studying under Vandyke, scarce compensates by all the boldness of his expression for the severe nature and delicate fidelity of the elder hand. Oliver died in 1617, aged 62 years, leaving behind him many works of exquisite skill and beauty. If the long reign of Elizabeth was inglorious for art, neither will that of James introduce us to names of note, or to works of lasting reputation. James, though an ungainly man, and no very gracious monarch, had high qualities: he loved peace, he loved learning, he loved poetry-and he loved art a little. He encouraged first and then pensioned Mytens, a native of the Hague, whose reputation was such that, in the opinion of many, it suffered but a slight eclipse on the appearance of Vandyke. This artist was at first employed in portraiture, but he afterward copied in little many works of the great painters of Italy; nor did the originals, it is said, suffer much either in richness of colour or in beauty of sentiment, so skilful was his pencil. The younger Oliver too made himself known about this period by numerous miniature portraits of the chief persons about court. This branch of art was encouraged by the prevailing fashion of wearing miniatures richly set in gold and diamonds; they were no longer concealed in their boxes and cabinets of carved ebony, but displayed publicly around the neck, and employed to embellish the velvet dresses of the courtly and the highborn. This harmless vanity, while it encouraged VOL. I.-D art, exposed its works to the risk of continual accidents. The English at this period were rich and proud, and sensible of the fame which successful art brings to a nation. But there was a strong feeling entertained against them by foreign princes and foreign artists. They were denounced by the ancient church as incurable heretics; they were dreaded by sea and land; and it was reckoned dangerous to the soul, and not very safe to the body, to have interchange of civilities with men whom the saints had abandoned and the pope consigned to perdition. We were unable, therefore, either to allure over artists of talent, or to become the purchasers of many works of eminence. The general aversion which the mass of the community entertained towards the appearance of paintings in churches began, however, sensibly to abate. Painted windows, altar pieces, and works of a scriptural character became common as the episcopal church grew strong. The king encouraged their reappearance; the dignitaries of the church sanctioned it; and the people, naturally fond of flashy colours, and of pomp and show, made no opposition-though the Puritans called it a bowing of the knee to Baal, and a setting up of the image-worship of the Lady of Babylon. To the commencement of the reign of Charles the First all lovers of art and literature looked with joy, and to the conclusion with sorrow. His spirit was lofty, his discernment great, his taste refined, and his nature generous. The purity of his court and the dignity of his manners were models for other nations. Into his palaces he introduced works of art of the first merit, and to his friendship men of talents and attainments. He filled his cabinets and his galleries with all the works of genius which he could procure in other countries or in his own. He encouraged merit of the first order. Inigo Jones was his architect. and Vandyke was his painter Of the contents of King Charles's galleries we have various accounts, but all agreeing that they contained many works of very high talent. Prince Henry, it is true, shares with his brother the merit of patronising painting; and the Earl of Arundel has also the honour of being one of the foremost in forming the national taste, by a judicious assemblage of works of art. But the collection of the prince was small, for he died early; and that of the earl was chiefly, if not wholly, in sculpture; while the gallery of the king was rich in paintings from the best masters. The merit, however, of commencing the royal collection is due to Henry the Eighth. It contained in his time one hundred and fifty pieces, 1 including miniatures; and when we reflect on the deficiency of public taste, on the foreign wars which that king waged, his contest with the Church of Rome, and his domestic labours in courting, crowning, and uncrowning queens, we cannot but feel that he did much for art. His wardrobe accounts in the British Museum contain the list of his pictures; and though the artists' names are not mentioned, it is easy to trace that many are by Holbein, and pleasing to know that some of them are still in the collection of George the Fourth. This curious document confirms the accounts of the domestic splendour and public magnificence of Henry. The influence of a king of true taste, like Charles, was soon visible in the nation. The foreign countries, who to Elizabeth and James had presented necklaces and jewels, and splendid toys, now propitiated the English court with gifts of the fairest works of art. The states of Holland, instead of ivory puzzles, and cabinets formed after the ingenious patterns known to schoolboys by the name of the Walls of Troy, sent Tintorets and Titians. The King of Spain presented the Cain and Abel of John of Bologna, with Titian's Venus del Pardo; and other states courted Charles by gifts of a similar |